Key votes

113th Congress

The second session of the 113th Congress enacted into law 114 out of the 3,036 introduced bills (3.8 percent). Comparatively, the 112th Congress had 4.2 percent of introduced bills enacted into law in the second session.[9] For more information pertaining to Scott's voting record in the 113th Congress, please see the below sections.[10]

National security

DHS Appropriations

Scott voted in favor of HR 2217 - the DHS Appropriations Act (2014) Act of 2014. The bill passed the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 245 - 182 and was largely along party lines.[11]

Keystone Pipeline Amendment

Scott voted against House Amendment 69, which would have amended HR 3 to "require that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, conduct a study of the vulnerabilities of the Keystone XL pipeline to a terrorist attack and certify that necessary protections have been put in place." The amendment failed on May 22, 2013, with a vote of 176 - 239 and was largely along party lines.[11]

CISPA (2013)

Scott voted in favor of HR 624 - the CISPA (2013). The bill passed the House on April 18, 2013, with a vote of 288 - 127. The bill permitted federal intelligence agencies to share cybersecurity intelligence and information with private entities and utilities.[12] The bill was largely supported by Republicans, but divided the Democratic Party.[11]

NDAA

Scott voted in support of HR 1960 - the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill passed the House on June 14, 2013, with a vote of 315 - 108. Both parties were somewhat divided on the vote.[11]

Economy

Farm bill

On January 29, 2014, the U.S. House approved the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, H.R. 2642, also known as the Farm Bill.[13] The bill passed by a vote of 251-166. The nearly 1,000-page bill reformed and continued various programs of the Department of Agriculture through 2018. The $1 trillion bill expanded crop insurance for farmers by $7 billion over the next decade and created new subsidies for rice and peanut growers that would kick in when prices drop.[14][15] However, cuts to the food stamp program cut an average of $90 per month for 1.7 million people in 15 states.[15] Scott voted with 161 other Republicanrepresentatives in favor of the bill.

2014 Budget

On January 15, 2014, the Republican-run House approved H.R. 3547, a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September 30, 2014.[16][17] The House voted 359-67 for the 1,582 page bill, with 64 Republicans and three Democrats voting against the bill.[17] The omnibus package included 12 annual spending bills to fund federal operations.[18] It included a 1 percent increase in the paychecks of federal workers and military personnel, a $1 billion increase in Head Start funding for early childhood education, reduced funding to the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency and protected the Affordable Care Act from any drastic cuts. Scott joined with the 63 other Republicans and 3 Democrats who voted against the bill.[16][17]

Government shutdown

On September 30, 2013, the House passed a final stopgap spending bill before the shutdown went into effect. The bill included a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and would have also stripped the bill of federal subsidies for congressional members and staff. It passed through the House with a vote of 228-201.[19] At 1 a.m. on October 1, 2013, one hour after the shutdown officially began, the House voted to move forward with going to a conference. In short order, Sen. Harry Reid rejected the call to conference.[20] Scott voted to approve the stopgap spending bill that would have delayed the individual mandate.[21]

The shutdown ended on October 16, 2013, when the House took a vote on HR 2775 after it was approved by the Senate. The bill to reopen the government lifted the $16.7 trillion debt limit and funded the government through January 15, 2014. Federal employees also received retroactive pay for the shutdown period. The only concession made by Senate Democrats was to require income verification for Obamacare subsidies.[22] The House passed the legislation shortly after the Senate, by a vote of 285-144, with all 144 votes against the legislation coming from Republican members. Scott voted against HR 2775.[23]

Immigration

Morton Memos Prohibition

Scott voted in favor of House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain illegal aliens residing in the United States. The vote largely followed party lines.[11]

Healthcare

Healthcare Reform Rules

Scott voted in favor of House Amendment 450 - Requires Congressional Approval for Any Rules Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The amendment was adopted by the House on August 2, 2013, with a vote of 227-185. The amendment requires all changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act be approved by Congress before taking effect. The vote was largely along party lines.[11]

Keep the IRS Off Your Healthcare Act

Scott voted in favor of HR 2009 - Keep the IRS Off Your Healthcare Act of 2013. The bill passed through the House on August 2, 2013, with a vote of 232-185. The bill would prevent the IRS and Treasury Secretary from enforcing the powers provided to them in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The vote largely followed party lines.[11]

Social issues

Amash amendment

Scott voted against House Amendment 413 - Prohibits the National Security Agency from Collecting Records Under the Patriot Act. The amendment failed on July 4, 2013, by a vote of 205-217. The amendment would have prohibited the collection of records by the National Security Agency under the Patriot Act. Both parties were split on the vote.[11]

Previous congressional sessions

Fiscal Cliff

Scott voted against the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was 1 of 151 Republicans that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257 - 167 vote on January 1, 2013.[27]

Issues

On The Issues Vote Match

On The Issues conducts a VoteMatch analysis of elected officials based on 20 issue areas. Rather than relying on incumbents to complete the quiz themselves, the VoteMatch analysis was conducted using voting records, statements to the media, debate transcripts or citations from books authored by or about the candidate. Based on the results of the quiz, Scott is a Libertarian-Leaning Conservative. Scott received a score of 27 percent on social issues and 81 percent on economic issues.[28]

On The Issues organization logo.

The table below contains the results of analysis compiled by staff at On The Issues.

National security

American response in Syria

Scott, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, said on September 3, 2013, "In this situation, we must proceed with extreme caution. While I’m concerned with the use of chemical weapons and deeply troubled by the attacks against innocent civilians in Syria, we must have an thoughtful debate over merits, goals and consequences of U.S. military involvement in that country."[30]

In a town hall meeting on September 4, 2013, Scott also told constituents he does not plan to support the resolution authorizing U.S. military strikes in Syria.[31] In the meeting he said, "Here's what I'll tell you. I'm tired of the U.S. getting involved in every country's individual disputes. As sad as what happened is, I do not intend to support the resolution. The reason I'm hesitant there is I would ask you to give me a little bit of leeway, in that if we have intelligence that shows those chemical weapons being transferred to Hamas, where they could potentially be used against Israel, then I would be in favor of destroying those weapons."[32]

Campaign donors

Fundraising events

Comprehensive donor history

Comprehensive donor information for Scott is available dating back to 2010. Based on available campaign finance records, Scott raised a total of $2,181,940 during that time period. This information was last updated on April 5, 2013.[36]

2012

Scott won re-election to the U.S. House in 2012. During that election cycle, Scott's campaign committee raised a total of $1,114,640 and spent $761,854.[45] This is less than the average $1.5 million spent by House winners in 2012.[46]

PGI: Change in net worth

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Scott's net worth as of 2012 was estimated between $739,758 and $3,211,724 . That averages to $1,975,741, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican representatives in 2012 of $6,956,438.47. Scott ranked as the 149th most wealthy representative in 2012.[48] Between 2009 and 2012, Scott's calculated net worth[49] increased by an average of 2 percent per year. Between 2004 and 2012, the average annual percentage increase for a member of Congress was 15.4 percent.[50]

Comparatively, the American citizen experienced a median yearly decline in net worth of -0.94%.[52]

The data used to calculate changes in net worth may include changes resulting from assets gained through marriage, inheritance, changes in family estates and/or trusts, changes in family business ownership and many other variables unrelated to a member's behavior in Congress.

PGI: Donation Concentration Metric

Filings required by the Federal Election Commission report on the industries that give to each candidate. Using campaign filings and information calculated by OpenSecrets.org, Ballotpedia calculated the percentage of donations by industry received by each incumbent over the course of his or her career (or 1989 and later, if elected prior to 1988). Scott received the most donations from individuals and PACs employed by the Health Professionals industry.

From 2009-2014, 25.83 percent of Scott's career contributions came from the top five industries as listed below.[53]

Lifetime voting record

According to the website GovTrack, Scott missed 36 of 2,700 roll call votes from January 2011 to July 2014. This amounts to 1.3 percent, which is better than the median of 2.5 percent among current congressional representatives as of July 2014.[56]

Congressional staff salaries

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Scott paid his congressional staff a total of $753,382 in 2011. He ranked 28th on the list of the lowest paid Republican representative staff salaries and ranked 30th overall of the lowest paid representative staff salaries in 2011. Overall, Georgia ranked 24th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[57]

↑The questions in the quiz are broken down into two sections -- social and economic. In social questions, liberals and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictive answers. For the economic questions, conservatives and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictive answers.